Name: Stockstat, or 'Stock' for short. This happens to be the name of the street where Bedingfield House used to be; it's customary for Gargoyles to be named after the place where they were 'born'.
Age: 135
Gender: Biologically Sexless. Identifies as Male.
Breed/Species/Type/Lineage: Gargoyle.
Physical Description:The above is actually his statue appearance; his normal appearance looks more 'organic', with greenish-tinted skin and bright orange eyes with black slits for pupils.
Talents:Stockstat has access to abilities common to the rest of his kind; he possesses exceptional flight skills and supernatural levels of speed and strength, enabling him to fly at speeds fast enough to get from side of the city to the other in less than an hour, and the strength to lift fully-grown men and carry them through the air. He also regenerates from injuries much faster than a human does; and that's if you can injure him in the first place, thanks to his rather tough hide. There's also his enhanced, beastlike senses of night vision and hearing, and the extra dexterity required to move at such great speeds.
The ability that defines him and all other Gargoyles, however, is his ability to turn his hide to a rocky substance, rendering him nigh-invulnerable to damage. However, doing this also stops him from moving at all, and it takes a while to activate (though it can be broken out of quickly for surprise attacks). Thus, it's mostly used to disguise himself as a mere statue. While he can't move, however, he is fully conscious and can magically 'see' what is happening around him, enabling him to react to potential dangers. Due to his magical nature, he also does not need to eat, drink or sleep, enabling him to stay disguised as a statue for days, weeks or even months at a time. This is not to say that he's incapable of consuming food or drink, but it serves no purpose other than to provide flavour.
Finally, his time amongst the hidden monsters in Camden's sewers have given him a number of literal underground contacts which keep him up-to-date on the supernatural rumour mill; it was how he found out about Nemsemet, after all.
This is all offset by one major weakness, however; he has no way of hiding himself from the mortals without immobilising himself completely. Thus, if he has to move around on the surface, he tends to only do so at night, timing his movements across the city. During the day he is likely to use underground passages instead.
History:Gargoyles are magical creatures, created only by the most skilled of alchemists and conjurers. Having first emerged amongst magical architects during the Renaissance, a Gargoyle's purpose in life is to act as the guardian of their master's building, or any other building to which they have been assigned.
In this sense, Stockstat was no different from the rest of his kind. He was 'born' in the year 1880, to act as guardian of a newly-constructed mage's clubhouse called the Bedingfield House, after its owner, and Stockstat's master at the time, Henry Bedingfield. Of course, since there wasn't much of value there, Stockstat spent the first fifty-odd years of his existence just sitting and idling on the ledge of the building during the day; at night, he felt confident enough to move about a bit more, and he picked up a reputation amongst the mages at Bedingfield House as something of a joker. Mages and their students would sometimes come up to the roof to chat with him, and occasionally drop things onto passerby for their amusement. For a Gargoyle, it was a happy existence.
As is usually the case, however, it didn't last. By 1920, Henry Bedingfield had joined the Court of New Camden, and with much less spare time on his hands, he handed the building over to his son, Hunter. Unlike his father, Hunter was a very reckless and irresponsible young man, and started bringing Opium and mortal Prostitutes (who would have to have their memories erased) into the clubhouse. Hunter soon found himself knee-deep in debt to various drug cartels, and the Great Depression striking in 1929 certainly didn't help. Unable to pay his debts, Hunter knew that eventually the cartels would send goons over to break every bone in his body and take everything except the clothes on his back. Rather than face such an indignity, he chose to fake his own death and flee the city. He asked Stock to come with him, but unlike most of his kind, Stock had formed something of an emotional bond with the building and refused to leave it.
Thus, after Hunter had abandoned the property, it soon became infested by mortal squatters. Despite Stock hiding up on the roof for years at a time, convinced that Hunter or Henry would eventually come back to reclaim the building, they never did. Shortly after the Second World War had passed, the building had become a derelict shell of its former self, and the local government made plans to tear down the entire district as part of an urban renewal project. Realising that he couldn't reasonably oppose their plans without violating the Concealment Edict, Stock finally decided to let go and abandoned the building, leaving it to be demolished.
This incident lead him to fall into a depression and he spent the next few decades living among the banished Supernatural community in New Camden's sewers; partially because he felt that he should be banished for failing to fulfil his whole purpose in life. Eventually, sometime during the 1980s, taxmen from the court of De Lacy found him down there and brought him back up to the surface to be punished for long-standing tax evasion (having previously been exempt from taxation, being considered a dependent on the Bedingfield family). It was here that he was reunited with Henry, still alive and kept young and healthy through magic. Henry managed to pull some strings to get Stock off the hook, as a means of apologising for his lengthy absence. However, as a creature with no way of hiding, Stock's only choices at this point were to either go back to the sewers or start working for Henry again. Having somewhat moved past what had happened by this point, he accepted Henry as his master again. He never found out what happened to Hunter.
Up until recently, Stock had been the guardian of Henry Bedingfield's office in a downtown skyscraper, which he considered a much easier position as there was a much lesser chance of forming any emotional bonds with the building itself. However, a few months ago, Henry disappeared again, and after hearing about Nemsemet's rising from his underground contacts, Stock assumed the worst. Acting under Henry's emergency orders, he broke into his office one night, destroyed all of his files, and hid out in the sewers again; with orders to assume that Henry is dead if he doesn't return within two weeks. As of now, it's only two days before the deadline is up.
Psychological Profile:In spite of their monstrous, perhaps even demonic, appearance, Gargoyles usually tend to be very noble creatures, and Stockstat is no exception. However, thanks to the bout of depression he went through, combined with years upon years of watching random humans on the street act like massive jerks to each other, he has become something of a cynic. Don't get him wrong, he still has a very clear idea of right and wrong, and if permitted, will glady swoop in to deal with any evildoers, but he is convinced that everyone, mortal and supernatural, are inherently warlike and power-hungry and nothing he does will change that. If anything, Nemsemet is the logical conclusion of all that, but of course that doesn't excuse him or anything else from committing heinous crimes.
He's also known for being very inquisitive and friendly with people, even the rudest of the rude, and a somewhat dry and satirical sense of humour, honed and trained by more than a century's worth of news and gossip on the streets below his building. And of course, being a Gargoyle who must sometimes stay in one place for ridiculously long periods of time, he is a very patient and calm person; it takes a lot to get him mad, and he'll act level-headed and indulge in his gallows humour even if the world is about to end.
Possessions:Perhaps ironically, Stockstat is not one to form a bond with inanimate objects; if he did before, he doesn't anymore. Not since the loss of his favourite building, anyway. Besides, even if he did, he couldn't carry them, since he doesn't wear any clothes. He doesn't need to, since has no visible, if you'll pardon the pun, 'possessions' on him, either.
Miscellaneous Notes:It should be noted that, while Stockstat has a firm grasp on the English language, his voice is rather deep and raspy, and he has the unfortunate involuntary habit of snorting every other word.
Yes, and:Thanks to his contacts in the literal supernatural underground, Stockstat heard about the arrival of an authentic Jewish Golem in town almost immediately. This intrigued him, because while he'd seen all manner of shapeshifters, undead revenants, crazed half-demons, C.H.U.D.s and mutant Turtles down there, he'd never met a Golem. When Joseph Lowe happened to be hanging around near Henry Bedingfield's office one night, Stockstat flew over into a nearby alley and called him over to get acquainted. Joseph didn't seem particularly interested in talking, though, but soon he came back for information on a hypothetical 'cure for golem-ness'. Stock assured him that, the moment he found out about one, he'd let him know. He was also the one who told Joseph about the job opening with Alfric Waldheim when he decided he needed work. Stock has come to like Joseph quite a bit, actually, partially because he sees a bit of himself in him; he reminds him of how he was after the 'death' of Bedingfield House.
